


Mother Knows Best

by bohrok



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Fantasy Violence, Gen, Jossed, reeducation camp mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 09:45:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3063188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bohrok/pseuds/bohrok
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Suyin claims Kuvira will regret everything. Kuvira disagrees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> -(anything else you want added here, let me know)  
> -spans post-Reunion  
> -was written pre-Remembrances (LoK S4 E8), so it’s jossed in several locations. Basically, it was some of my finale predictions and a chance for me to explore the dynamic between Suyin and Kuvira.  
> -also posted on my tumblr at http://tmblr.co/Zx5Oml1Z4q_Ds

“All the potential wasted…you could have been great, Kuvira. You could have gone down in history as one of the heroes of the century, but instead, instead your greed and untenable desires consumed you.” Suyin said.

Kuvira shouted, “I am great!”

“No. You are shameful. Dishonorable. The world looks at you and it spits on your image. What you have done will take a thousand years of conflict to even hope of healing the wrongs.” Suyin replied.

Kuvira raged, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Don’t I? I raised you. You were my daughter. I taught you everything that I could, but it seems I failed to teach you ethical behavior. May you come to recognize and regret your disgusting actions.” Suyin announced.

Kuvira snapped, “Take her away. Lock her up and throw away the key!”

The Earth Empire soldiers dragged away Suyin’s portable platinum prison. Kuvira knew it would be transported on the next train, joining four other portable platinum prisons which contained the only other people of Zaofu who would not recognize Kuvira’s position of power. Kuvira knew the terror that awaited Suyin and her family in the reeducation camps, one more frightening than anything the Dai Li had previously wrought under the Earth Monarch’s command in Ba Sing Se. But, Kuvira did not change her order despite this heavy knowledge, and she left Suyin to this unimaginable fate, a forcible mental reprogramming by the Dai Li.

Kuvira retreated to a balcony in the Beifong’s private household, one where she already knew she could be alone. Her anger still coursed within her; it had not been tempered by exacting punishment upon a helpless Suyin. She began to talk to herself to release some of her tightly hidden internal pain and conflict.

“I gave her one last chance to stay out of the reeducation camps. And what does she do? She spits on my offer! She’s worthless to me. She was never my mother.”

Kuvira believed her words on the surface, but within her heart of hearts, there was a tinge of regret, as there is always light that can be found in any darkness. Suyin could never not be Kuvira’s family. There was too much history for that bond to ever be broken. Kuvira still believed Suyin to be her mother, which made it all the more inexcusable that Kuvira chose to send Suyin to the worst punishment Kuvira had at hand.

About two days later, Kuvira was alone again as she walked through the foggy swamp. The spirit vines around the banyan-grove tree were extraordinarily powerful and Kuvira intended to use them to complete her plans for an ultimate super weapon. She believed just the threat of its use would cement her rule over the Earth Empire permanently and help her to begin reclaiming the territories surrendered by Earth King Kuei, including but not limited to Republic City. Kuvira understood at the current rate the Earth Empire consumed natural resources, they would have to expand soon or risk running out of necessary goods such as food and metal ore. Kuvira would rather conquer neighboring nations than slow down the rate of consumption, because she believed as it was, the rate was at the prime condition for optimum technological innovation. Kuvira would never willingly stand in the way of what she viewed as progress. She was hard-set in her current plan and would, true to her word, crush anyone who attempted to interfere.

Kuvira brushed a patch of thick vines away and heard a familiar voice on the other side. She stepped closer and was confronted with the sight of her as an eight year old, meeting Suyin Beifong for the first time.

“Are you lost, dear?” Suyin asked.

Kuvira had heard rumors that this swamp would produce hallucinations, and previously planned to simply look away should she chance upon anything out of the ordinary, but she found herself unable to escape the vision, no matter which direction she turned to, or how many trees she tried to run past. Kuvira surrendered to the swamp’s will after she grew tired of running and listened to what the swamp had to say.

The young Kuvira in the vision sniffled. “My grandfather gave me a train ticket to here, but he didn’t give me one to go back! I don’t know what to do.”

“What is his name? Where are your parents? What city did you come from?” Suyin inquired.

Kuvira responded, “My grandfather’s name is Peng. My parents and grandmother died in an accident when I was very young. I came from Omashu.”

“I’ll send my trusted advisor Aiwei to try and return you to your grandfather. Come with me.” Suyin said.

Aiwei and Kuvira tried, but they never located Kuvira’s grandfather. Omashu was a large, large place to be looking for someone with the common name of Peng. After many weeks of searching, Aiwei gave up and returned to Zaofu, little Kuvira still in tow. When Suyin saw that Aiwei still had Kuvira with him, Suyin understood that there was no chance of ever reuniting Kuvira with her grandfather, and thus, would have to move forward without him in the equation.

Suyin took in the eight year old Kuvira and raised her just like any of her other children, of which would eventually total five in number. Suyin adored Kuvira, her only metalbending daughter, and Kuvira looked up to Suyin as her city’s leader, her mentor, and most of all, as her surrogate mother.

Kuvira then saw, in the vision, herself preparing to leave Zaofu with Baatar Junior and many wealthy Zaofu citizens. Suyin charged up and accosted Kuvira.

“If you leave now, you will never return!”

Kuvira’s eyes widened in shock when she saw the vision of Suyin turn into an impossibly tall spirit, one with bright red markings and a black body. This hadn’t happened in the past. Kuvira did not know this spirit, but he seemed very familiar, in an unpleasant way. His one eye looked right at Kuvira and she felt a chill run over her heart.

“Thank you, human.”

The spirit formed a large purple blast that sent Kuvira flying through the swamp canopy and out near the banyan-grove tree. Dazed, she looked up just in time to see Baatar Junior zap Avatar Korra, who was in the Avatar State, with a direct hit from the spirit-vine-powered super weapon.

A horrible sound echoed from around Korra and Kuvira saw the same spirit as from the swamp’s vision form his red pattern across Korra’s torso, which glowed through her clothes. This alternated with a glowing light blue pattern, which began to switch even more and more rapidly until Korra formed a partially human, partially light spirit, and partially dark spirit being. It was one hundred feet tall, even taller than the banyan-grove tree they all stood around, and was a monstrosity unlike any other spirit the world had ever seen. It spread dread beyond the Koizilla, the fusion between Avatar Aang and La, who together were the physical embodiment of the ocean’s rage. This new spirit was a terrible balance between harmony, chaos, and humanity.

The spirit announced, “We are now one.”

Kuvira dropped to her knees in fear as the being leveled the entire swamp with one hand, and with the other hand, raised up a banyan-grove tree so tall it seemed to touch the stars.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The super weapon was going to eliminate any obstacles to Kuvira expanding the Earth Empire as far as she pleased. If that included the Avatar, then it would mean the Avatar would be gone, not this…this…abomination formed in the Avatar’s stead.

As the spirit continued speaking, in a little part of the booming voice of three, Kuvira now recognized the deep voice that would whisper to her to continue the clearly-dangerous project on her train. The voice belonged to Vaatu, the spirit who had threatened to destroy the world as she knew it during Harmonic Convergence, when the planets around their sun all aligned, a phenomenon that only happened once every ten thousand years. Kuvira recognized him now. And what did Kuvira feel when she understood what had happened, when she understood how she had been used to resurrect the spirit of chaos?

Kuvira bowed her head to the ground and remembered what her mother Suyin had told her about regretting the path she had taken. Kuvira then concluded the old adage was true:

Mother knows best.


End file.
